Cubes have been used for advertising on many occasions. A cube typically has six sides, a front side, a backside, a left side, a right side, a top side and a bottom side.
One such cube is formed with layer upon layer of paper, until the length, width and height of the cube is substantially equal in size. The outer edges of the paper on four sides have indicia, such as advertising thereon. As each paper is used, the cube shrinks in height and the indicia disappears as the paper is used.
Cubes have been divided in a manner to require manipulation to accomplish the desired results. One such cube is the popular Rubic""s Cube puzzle, which divides each of the six sides of the cube into three rows and columns, to provide 9 colored square segments on each of the six exposed sides. The segments may be rotated to align similar colors together to solve the puzzle.
Transparent cubes have been used to imbed an object within the cube. These cubes are at times used as a paperweight or other decorative object.
A search of the U.S. patent files was made to locate relevant prior art. The following prior art patents were noted of interest. No prior art patent was found that was believed to disclose or make obvious, applicant""s novel calendar cube apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,396 issuing to Betty Thomson on Aug. 3, 1971, discloses a system of hinging distinct similar polygonic shapes, whereby the shapes may be pivoted individually or in groups, independent of the remainder of the shapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,681 issuing Oct. 24, 1989 to Arie Offir, discloses hingedly connected cubical prisms, wherein individual cubical prisms are independently hinged.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,077 issuing to Oswald Calcedo on Mar. 9, 1993, discloses a polyhedron having indicia representative of numbers and fractions thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,261 issuing to Robert Thompson on Dec. 21, 1971, discloses multiple cubes utilizing first and second hinge strips allowing manipulation of individual cubes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,376 issuing to Sukeo Tsurumi on Dec. 9, 1975, discloses six face plates, each having a calendar month displayed on each side of the six face plates. The face plates are joined together to form a cube displaying six calendar months. The faceplates must be removed from the cube, and reassembled to form a new cube to display the remaining six months. The face plates may be made of wood to form packing crates, or made of concrete to form building blocks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,750 issuing to Marvin Silbermintz on Oct. 18, 1983 discloses a calender formed from a cube puzzle having 54 cubies, which are manipulated to display the date, month and the name of any day in a year.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,578 issuing to J. Sudermann on Jan. 6, 1970, discloses an array of 16 blocks joined by double-acting hinge means in rows and columns to display various shapes and images.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,072 issuing to A. Dreyer on Dec. 7, 1965 discloses 27 cubes connected by an elastic member extending through an aperture in each cube.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,436 issuing to J. Weissman on Jun. 20, 1972, discloses a cube calendar formed of four cubes supported by a holder, to display the month, date and day.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,029 issuing to J. Lieberman on Jul. 30, 1974 discloses a single cube which is sequentially unfolded to display the current date and advertising.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,288 discloses a parallelogram sheet for forming a reversible parallelepiped with multi-folding sides.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,071 issuing to G. Popat, G. Ray and R. Pollman on Sep. 12, 2000 discloses a method for custom printing and forming three-dimensional structures such as a four sided pyramid or a 14 sided calendar.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,201 issuing to L. Nichols on Apr. 11, 1972 discloses a pattern forming puzzle having eight cubes which are magnetically engaged.
Eight individual cubes, each cube having six equal sides, are manipulated to form a calendar cube. The calendar cube has a first set of six cube faces, and a second set six cube faces. Each cube face is made up of four cube sides. The eight individual cubes are selectively manipulated to position each of the twelve cube faces upon the top portion of the cube. Each monthly calendar is placed upon one of the selected cube faces of the calendar cube, so that the user may selectively display a monthly calendar, which provides the current month and date. Manipulation of the calendar cube to position the current month on the top portion of the cube is a challenge which changes month to month, and provides entertainment to the user of the calendar cube. Advertising indicia is placed upon each of the twelve cube faces, to promote a company, product or service. This novel calendar cube is likely to remain on the user""s desk for the duration of the year, and may be adjusted to display different calendar indicia for each month of the year as well as presenting advertising indicia upon each exposed cube face of the calendar cube.
Each of the eight individual cubes has a substantially equal length, width and depth. Indicia is printed, screened or otherwise marked upon a pliable sheet material, which is secured to selected individual cube sides. Pliable sheet material with selected indicia thereon, is also secured to selected side-by-side cube sides, forming a hinge portion between adjacent cube sides. The pliable sheet material may be in the form of a paper, plastic, fabric, cloth or other pliable sheet material. The eight individual cubes are selectively manipulated to bend the hinge portion up to 180 degrees. This allows the eight cubes to be selectively positioned to form a total of twelve cube faces, with each cube face comprising four cube sides, with a selected cube face manipulated into a top face of the calendar cube. Each of the twelve calendar cube faces includes a monthly calendar and advertising thereon, which is selectively manipulated by moving adjacent cubes about their respective hinge portions.